Peoria
ACLU Meetings

-- Open to all
members & friends --

The Board
of Directors of
the Peoria ACLU meets at 7 p.m. on the 4th Tuesday of every month
(except December) in the conference room of theUniversalist-Unitarian
Church at 3000 W.
Richwoods Boulevard, Peoria.

"Twittergate" Issue Resolved!

From PeoriaStory.com:

PEORIA,
IL -- American Civil Liberties Union lawyers on March 9 won round one
in its federal lawsuit against the city of Peoria in the Twittergate
case.Judge Michael
Mihm refused the city's motion to dismiss the lawsuit."Our client gets
his day in court," said ACLU Illinois spokesman Ed Yohnka, after the
hearing ended.There
were no sparks in the hour long hearing before Judge Mihm. There was a
lot of talk about the city's idea that the Twitter site, a parody of
Peoria mayor Jim Ardis, fell under the state's law against
impersonating a public official. The
lawyers and judge discussed whether police had probable cause to enter
the resident of plaintiff Jon Daniel, search his house, seize his
electronic equipment, and detain him at the police station, all based
on impersonating the mayor by posting a parody site on Twitter.Mihm did not seem
to be buying that argument. The basic issue is free speech under the US
Constitution. Without
microphones, much of the hearing was difficult to hear, but Mihm's
ruling was crystal clear. Now discovery will take place, and who knows
what juicy information will be forthcoming. Mihm
also mentioned the word 'settlement,' and his ruling might spur
settlement talks. The city, with its budget in the red, as of mid
January had spent almost $58,000 in legal fees, according to documents
obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. A waste of taxpayer
dollars?

1st and
4th Amendment Issues in Peoria(A.K.A. "Twittergate")

On
April 15, 2014, Peoria police raided a residence to find out who had
posted a parody site on Twitter that made fun of Peoria mayor Jim
Ardis, and prosecute that person for "impersonating a public official."
There was a tiny problem: under the First
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a parody Twitter site is
protected as free speech. Under the 4th
Amendment, there was no reason to issue the search warrant in the
first place.

In other words, it’s not illegal to make fun of the mayor, no matter
how awful the things that are said. And parodies are not
constitutional grounds to issue search warrants.Three local judges signed
search warrants, and likely the States Attorney gave permission for the
raid to take place; he has denied this allegation. The police turned the house
upside down, seized all electronic equipment, and detained the
occupants. The police found marijuana, and one occupant admitted it was
his. He was arrested.With the ensuing uproar, the
States Attorney dropped the Twitter parody charges, but the marijuana
charge remains against the man who admitted possession, and who had no
relationship to the Twitter account. He is free on bail, with a
court hearing set for May 15.

Last June, ACLU National released a report on the
state of the war on
marijuana in the US, and the vast racial disparities in arrest rates
for marijuana possession. While blacks and whites use marijuana at
similar rates, inIllinois blacks are 7.6 times more
likely than whites
to be arrested for possession - one of the highest rates
in the
country. Several Illinois counties – including Champaign and Peoria
counties, have even higher disparities.

For more information, click on and
Email one of the linked officers, above.

Links to webites or
articles of interest to ACLU members (found by the webmaster or
forwarded from members & friends)

Please
note - this feature is for the interest of readers only. If you
have an article, editorial, etc. that you think members and friends of
Peoria ACLU might find interesting/fun, please send the link to the webmaster.